Ilaiyaraaja Sends Legal Notice to ‘Good Bad Ugly’ Makers Over Use of Songs Without Permission

Ilaiyaraaja, one of Indian cinema’s most revered music composers, has issued a legal notice to the producers of Good Bad Ugly, alleging that three of his songs were used in the film without his consent or proper authorisation. The notice, sent on April 15, accuses Mythri Movie Makers — led by producers Naveen Yerneni and Yalamanchili Ravi Shankar — of copyright infringement and demands a compensation of ₹5 crore, the immediate removal of the songs from the film, and a written apology.

The Ajith Kumar-starrer, directed by Adhik Ravichandran and released theatrically last week, features reworked versions of several yesteryear songs. Among them are three compositions by Ilaiyaraaja: “Ilamai Idho Idho” from Sakalakala Vallavan (1982), “En Jodi Manja Kuruvi” from Vikram (1986), and “Oththa Roova” (also cited as “Otha Rubayum Tharen”) from Nattupura Pattu (1996).

The notice, excerpts of which were sourced by News18, states:

“Such actions constitute unauthorized use, appropriation and a clear infringement of our Client’s copyright and moral rights. You may also please take note that he has never accorded any permission or consent, either express or implied, for using/altering/distorting/changing the form of the musical work that has been used in the cinematograph Good Bad Ugly.”

Ilaiyaraaja, whose career spans more than five decades has long maintained that composers must be granted “special moral rights” over their work, regardless of music label ownership. His notice also requests a “detailed account of revenue earned from the commercial exploitation of the said works.”

This is not the first time the composer has taken legal action over the use of his music. In recent months, Ilaiyaraaja issued a similar notice to Sun Pictures for using a song from Thanga Magan (1983) in Coolie, an upcoming film starring Rajinikanth. He also took issue with the Malayalam film Manjummel Boys for allegedly exploiting “Kanmani Anbodu” from the Tamil classic Guna (1991) without due authorization.

In response to the latest allegation, the producers of Good Bad Ugly maintain they have acted lawfully. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Ravi Shankar of Mythri Movie Makers said the team secured no-objection certificates (NOCs) from the music labels that own the rights to the songs.

“We have taken permission from all the music labels required for the songs we used in the film,” he told HT. “The labels hold the rights, so we have followed protocol and taken NOCs from them. We have done things by the book.”

The legal dispute now hinges on the interpretation of rights ownership — specifically, whether obtaining permission from labels is sufficient, or whether a composer’s personal consent is also legally required. Indian copyright law has increasingly been scrutinized for how it treats authorship and moral rights, especially in the case of legacy music catalogues.

Despite the controversy, Good Bad Ugly has performed robustly at the box office, crossing ₹150 crore globally since its release. The film stars Ajith Kumar in a lead role, with Trisha Krishnan appearing opposite him in back-to-back collaborations following Vidaamuyarchi. The ensemble cast includes Arjun Das, Prabhu, Sunil, Prasanna, Jackie Shroff, and Yogi Babu.

The film’s original score is composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar.